Adjustable bottle suspending device



J. A. PHELAN ADJUSTABLE BOTTLE SEJSPENDING DEVICE Nov. 26, 1957 Filed Jian. 19,' 1955 United States Patent() ADJUSTABLE BOTTLE sUsrENDlNG DEVICE Application Ianuary 19, 1955, Serial No. 482,748

1 Claim. (Cl. 248-328) This invention relates to apparatus for suspending a bottle from the ceiling of a room, and more specifically relates to apparatus for suspending a bottle from such a ceiling and for positioning the bottle for convenient use thereof.

Patients in the recovery room of a hospital, having just come from the operating room, must often be fed by injections of intravenous solutions and must frequently be irrigated, both of which processes are accomplished by the use of a bottle containing a solution to be discharged rom the bottle by gravity through a suitable tube to the patient. Such intravenous solution or irrigationbottles have been held in the past by means of stands which have several distinct disadvantages. One of the most important of these disadvangtages is that such stands occupy floor space which can be, and frequently is, very valuable. Attendants in the recovery room must often times work very rapidly, and if they are required to continuously go a1 ound a stand carrying the intravenous stand bottles, valuable time is lost. A second disadvantage, substantially as important as the first mentioned, is that such stands acquire a top-heavy nature when one or more heavy intravenous bottles is placed on the stand. Because the attendants must work rapidly in the recovery room, there is a denite likelihood that these heavy bottles or the stand will be bumped at or near the time the injection of the solution must be given to the patient, which will cause the stand to tip over, smashing the bottles on the oor. Valuable time is lost by this means, often times at a crucial moment with respect to the attention which must be given to the patient.

An object of my invention is to provide apparatus of relatively simple construction and operation for suspending an intravenous solution bottle and the like from the ceiling of a room to permit unobstructed use of the oor area therebelow.

Another object of my invention is to provide a bottle suspending device for supporting a bottle from the ceiling of a room such as the recovery room in a hospital, which device isreadily andeasily. shiftable from one position in the room to anotherposition to permit rapid and proper positioning of the bottle so that the contents thereof may be conveniently used at a desiredlocation.

Still another object of my invention is to provide apparatus for suspending one or more heavy intravenous solution bottles from the ceiling of a room and for eadily and easilyadjusting the vertical ypositionof such a bottle to a predetermined height so as to provide the desired and necessary hydrostatic pressure at the point of application of the solution to the patients body.

A further object of my invention is to provide a bottle suspending device for supporting a bottle from the ceiling of a room, which device may be laterally swung from a position normal to the ceiling to permit lateral shifting of a bottle carried thereby if the same is accidentally struck and thereby decrease the chance of breakage of tde bottle.

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These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation view partially broken away showing my invention secured to the ceiling of a room;

l Fig. 2 is a side elevation View, partly in vertical section showing my invention as in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a detail section view of a portion of my invention taken on a horizontal plane substantially at 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view taken just below the ceiling of the room in which my invention is mounted, as at 4 4 of Fig. 1, showing the physical relation preferred in the use of my invention with respect to the beds in the room.

The invention includes a depending support or support member designated in general by numeral 10 which is made up of a frame element 11 and extension elements 12 which are shiftably mounted on the frame element 11 for vertical movement. Extension elements 12 are capalble of being shifted downwardly beyond the lower end portion of frame element 11 and therefore cooperate therewith to make support member 1t) actually extendible and retractable. As best shown in Figy3, extension members 12 are affixed together in spaced relation by an encompassing rigid metal band 13 to which they are secured as by welding. Frame element 11 extends through the open interior of the band interconnection 13 and frame element 11 is guided for shifting movement therein by a number of flanged rotary guide elements 14 which are journalled in band 13.

Means are provided for supporting a bottle on the eX- tendible and retractable supporting member 10 and in the form shown such bottle supporting means comprise a pair of outstanding arms 15, which are formed integrally of the respective support elements 12 and extend transversely outwardly in opposite directions therefrom. Support arms 15 are provided with hook means 15a at the respective outer termini thereof and are provided with crimps 15b adjacent the inner end thereof for suspending a bottle B therefrom.

Frameelement 11 has a pair of abutments 16 and 17 respectively secured to the lower and upper portions thereof for engaging band 13 when the same is shifted vertically for limiting the vertical shifting movement thereof. Guide means comprising a sheave 18 is journalled in frame element 11 adjacent the upper end portion thereof. i Retaining means are interposed between frame element 11 and extension element 12 for releasably restricting relative vertical shifting movement thereof. In the formk shown, such means include an elongated flexible control element 19 or chain which is trained over guide sheave 18 and has segments 19a 'and 19b thereof extending downwardly along and on opposite sides of support member 10. Segment 19a hangs on the right side of support member 10, as seen in Fig. 2, and is secured to band 13 and is thereby connected with extension elements 12 and bottle-supporting arms 15. The other depending segment 19b of chain 19 is provided with a number of spaced enlargements or bells 19e which constitute gripping elements to preclude the chain from slipping in the hands of the operator when operating the same. Segment 1911 of chain 19, as seen in Fig. 2, extends down the left side of support member 10 around the bottom thereof and up the right side thereof to band 13 and is secured thereto. An anchoring element 20 is secured to the lower end portion of frame element 11 and is provided with a restricted recess or groove therein opening to the exterior thereof for releasably receiving chain 19 therein and thereby restricting longitudinal shifting thereof.

Roller means are provided on the upper end portion of element 11, and in the form shown, saidroller means include two pairs of rollers 21 and 22 respectively, which pairs are spaced one from the other and are journalled to revolve on parallel axes which extend transversely of frame element 11. Rollers 21 and 22 are spaced inwardly from the outer termini of body-supporting arms 15.

Track means, which in the form shown, comprise an elongated enclosed track 23, are provided for supporting rollers 21 and 22 thereon and for suspending the depending support and bottles B therefrom. Individual roller supporting surfaces 23a and 23b are provided for supporting the separate rollers of each of the pairs 21 and 22. The enclosed upper portion 23e of track 23 comprises a wheel retainer or wheel stop for restricting vertical shifting movement of the rollers. Mounting means, which in the form shown, comprise aplate 24, are provided for securing the track 23 adjacent to the ceiling C of the room. Plate 24 is securable to the ceiling C by any suitable means such as bolts 25. The interconnection 26 whichv is secured to mounting plate 24 and track 23 is provided with pivot means for swingably connecting track 23 to the ceiling C for movement transversely of track 23.

1n operation, the track 23 will be mounted adjacent the ceiling of a room in such a position as shown in Fig. 4 to permit at least one bed to be moved into the room on each side thereof. The lower end portion `of frame element 11 will only extend downwardly to a position where persons may walk under the bottle suspending device. Depending support 10 `will be shifted along track 23 on rollers 21` and 22 adjacent to a bed in the room. The chain 19 will be removed from the slot in anchoring element 20 to permit the extension elements 12 and bottlesupporting arms 15 to be shifted downwardly whereupon intravenous or irrigation bottles will be hung on arms 15 as shown in Fig. 1. Chain 19 will thereupon be pulled to elevate bottle supporting arms 15 and bottles B to a predetermined position so as to adjust the hydrostatic pressure at the point of delivery of the fluid to the patient. Chain 19 will thereupon be inserted into the anchoring element 20 and be retained thereby. When only one bottle is suspended on the device, there will tend to be some unbalancing and one of the pairs of rollers, such as 21, will tend to raise from the track, because the bottle will be pulling downwardly on bottle-supporting arrn 15. The wheel retainer 23e which comprises a portion of track 23 will restrict the upward shifting of the rollers 21 and the shifting of the bottle-suspending device will be restricted thereby.y The flanged guide elements 14 in band 13 will preclude binding of the frame element 11 when the loads carried by the arms 15 are unbalanced and will permit smooth and easy shifting of the extension elements 12 with respect to frame element 11.

It, by accident, a bottle is struck, the bottle suspending device, including the track, is free to shift transversely thereof so as to absorb some of the shock from the bottle when struck. When a weight is carried on the depending support 10, each of the rollers of each pair of rollers will be maintained in engagement with the re-L spective supporting surfaces 23a `and 23b, and there will be no transverse swinging movement of the depending support 10 relative to track 23. lf it is desired to change the vertical position of bottle B while the same is being used, chain 19 need onlybe removed from the releasable anchoring element 2t) to permit either upward or downward adjustment of the bottle-supporting arms. It the operator of the device should accidentally lose his grip on chain 19 when adjusting the position of the bottles, the resultant falling of the bottles and extension members 12 will be limited when the band 13 engages the abutment 16 which is disposed at the lower end portion of frame element 11. It will therefore be seen that the operation of the bottle suspending device is substantially completely safe so that bottles carried thereby will not be broken at crucial times.

1t will be seen that I have provided a bottle suspending device which is freely shiftable along the ceiling of a room to permit the bottles to be suspended in substantially any desired position and which may be operated to controllably shift the bottles to any desired vertical position within the normal ranges of desired use so as to adjust the hydrostatic pressure of the tluid being delivered to the patient.

It will also be noted that even though the device is loaded with unbalanced loads, it may be easily shifted along the track and the bottles may be easily and readily shifted to various desired vertical positions.

Another advantage of my invention lies in the construction permitting the track and bottle suspending device to shift laterally of the track it, oy chance, the bottles should be struck so as to absorb at least some of the shock from the striking of the bottle.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, detail, arrangement and proportion of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which consists of the matter described herein and set forth in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A bottle suspending device for use in hospital recovery rooms and the like, comprising an elongated track adrpted to be mounted on the ceiling of such a room, a depending frame element having an upper end portion with a roller journalled thereon, said roller `being mounted on said track to roll longitudinally thereof and permit corresponding shifting of said depending frame element, a bottle-supporting arm shiftably mounted on said frame element for vertical movement, a sheave journalled `on said frame element adjacent 4the upper end portion thereof, an elongated chain trained over said sheave `and having segments thereof hanging downwardly adjacent said frame element, one of said segments being connected with said vertically shiftable arm and the other of said segments being adapted to be manually gripped and pulled downwardly to draw said chain over said sheave and thereby elevate said bottle-supporting arm, and an anchoring element axed to said frame element releasably retaining said chain for restricting longitudinal movement thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 517,343 Keen Mar. 27, 1894 714,297 Gover Nov. 25, 1902 842,717 Smith Ian. 29, 1907 1,065,155 McCanSe .lune 17, 1913 1,450,176 Hopkins Apr. 3, 1923 1,633,344 Moran June 21, 1927 2,177,525 Henderson Oct. 24, 1939 2,370,496 Seip Feb. 27, 1945 

